April 15, 2008

GENESIS 3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

When Satan tempts, he offers something that seems “pleasing” and “desirable.” When Satan tempts a couple with sex, he makes it seem like they can’t live without it and that it’s the ultimate pleasure—which they are missing. Yes, sex is pleasurable, but the pleasure is not worth disobeying God. Temptation focuses on what we don’t have and ignores what God has already given us.

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How Others See It

Albert Y. Hsu: "The first step to a healthy approach toward sexuality is to recognize that sexual expression is not essential for life. Jesus himself is our example for living the single life without sexual activity.

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Society and the media, especially movies, portray sex as if no one can possibly live without it, and that with it, life will be abundant with joy. Yet, only a relationship with God can meet such a claim. Sex is a short-lived pleasure that is wonderful, but spiritual oneness with God is more important and more valuable.

The word for wisdom in this passage refers to the idea of being “in the know.” Another one of Satan’s whispered lies about sex outside of mar­riage is that we can’t be “in the know” about whether or not this person is the one to marry unless we experience sexual intimacy with him or her. This isn’t true because good sex doesn’t have as much to do with com­patibility as it does with serving the other person.

God wants married couples to grow and develop their sexual artistry within the safe atmosphere of marriage. Outside that boundary, members of a couple who have sex do not feel free to be who they really are because they are worried about whether their performance is acceptable.

The Birth of Shame

GENESIS 3:7–13 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed .g leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”